Steven Levitt at the Ath and SuperFreakonomics
Drunkenness, Prostitution, and Global Warming were only the beginning
Christopher Ranger
Last Updated: 12/29/09 Section: Books and Arts
Published in April 2005, and having sold 4 million copies worldwide, Freakonomics is a successful book by any standard. Even more unusual is the fact that this booming book is a nonfiction work about the application of economics to reveal explain all sorts of trends and phenomena in the world.
On October 20, 2009 the long-awaited and controversial sequel to Freakonomics, SuperFreakonomics, was released. Three days later, Claremont McKenna hosted an Athenaeum dinner featuring its author, "rogue economist" Steven D. Levitt.
He opened his talk by provocatively challenging conventional wisdom. "Friends don't let drunk friends drive," is a saying we hardly even question. But Levitt raised the question: are you really doing your friends a favor by encouraging them to walk instead? Comparing the number of miles driven drunk versus walked drunk and the number of deaths resulting from each, Levitt told a stunned audience that walking drunk is eight times as likely to claim the life of an intoxicated traveler than driving.
After thus grabbing the audience's attention, the sharp and engaging University of Chicago professor explained that his unusual studies in economics were not his original choice but resulted from his being "simply not up to par" relative to his peers when it came to certain skills needed to pursue traditional studies in economics, namely math.
"I am terrible at math," Professor Levitt admitted. But he added that when economists were surveyed, 70% said that a solid background in mathematics was critical while, comically, only 2% said that a good understanding of the economy was critical. Throughout the evening, Levitt delighted in amusing the audience with ironic facts like this, all laced with self-deprecating humor. He explained how he was the "whipping boy" for his high school AP Calculus teacher; and that he had no idea that there was such thing as a partial derivative upon his arrival at MIT to get his Ph.D. When he asked the student next to him in the lecture if there was any difference between the curly Ds and the normal ones, the chuckling response was, "You are so screwed."
On October 20, 2009 the long-awaited and controversial sequel to Freakonomics, SuperFreakonomics, was released. Three days later, Claremont McKenna hosted an Athenaeum dinner featuring its author, "rogue economist" Steven D. Levitt.
He opened his talk by provocatively challenging conventional wisdom. "Friends don't let drunk friends drive," is a saying we hardly even question. But Levitt raised the question: are you really doing your friends a favor by encouraging them to walk instead? Comparing the number of miles driven drunk versus walked drunk and the number of deaths resulting from each, Levitt told a stunned audience that walking drunk is eight times as likely to claim the life of an intoxicated traveler than driving.
After thus grabbing the audience's attention, the sharp and engaging University of Chicago professor explained that his unusual studies in economics were not his original choice but resulted from his being "simply not up to par" relative to his peers when it came to certain skills needed to pursue traditional studies in economics, namely math.
"I am terrible at math," Professor Levitt admitted. But he added that when economists were surveyed, 70% said that a solid background in mathematics was critical while, comically, only 2% said that a good understanding of the economy was critical. Throughout the evening, Levitt delighted in amusing the audience with ironic facts like this, all laced with self-deprecating humor. He explained how he was the "whipping boy" for his high school AP Calculus teacher; and that he had no idea that there was such thing as a partial derivative upon his arrival at MIT to get his Ph.D. When he asked the student next to him in the lecture if there was any difference between the curly Ds and the normal ones, the chuckling response was, "You are so screwed."
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